Evening fell and night came. Auren had a good long rest and slept with a peaceful mind and determined heart.
When the bird calls signalled the new day, Auren awoke to the heavy shadow of Vorren leaning over him. It seems his third brother had returned home.
He was as broad as a fortress wall, shoulders squared as though he carried the weight of mountains. The unique thing about Vorren is his eyes, they are sharp and wise, like a man who's gone through more scrolls than he broke bones.
"You're awake. Good." Vorren said, his deep voice calm.
"Brother Vorren, I see you have returned."
Auren was about to sit up to leave the bed when that heavy calloused palm pinned him to the bed by his chest.
"Stay down."
Auren's lips curled in irritation. Vorren and Raelith have this habit of pinning him down and waiting for him to escape. It's similar to how cats would pin each other down. From childhood till now it hasn't changed.
"Brother let me up. I need to see mother for the training regime"
Vorren chuckled but pressed down with more weight. That was his answer. Vorren has the patience of a great scholar and the strength of a mighty warrior. If he put his mind to it, Auren wouldn't escape.
"Why won't you let me up?" Auren asked exparated.
"Your body just awakened dual bloodlines. The force in our ancestral blood can tear a lesser beast from within. You will rest until you can control your aura at the very least."
Auren wanted to retort but nothing came to mind. Vorren made a very good point. He could only accept that he needed to at least control his aura otherwise their weaker servants would collapse within his presence.
As Auren accepted the inevitably of forced rest, the door opened. Cold air rushed in followed by footsteps that struck with the precision of a soldier.
Raelith had arrived, his silver hair matched Auren's and contrasts greatly against Vorren's black hair. His crimson eyes landed on Vorren's hand on Auren's chest and he nodded.
"Good it seems I don't need to do it myself."
Auren threw his hands up and just sighed. It seems no matter what he did he would not have escaped his elder brothers. Raelith approached the bed and hugged Auren close.
Auren could still smell the faint scent of blood, steel and ash.
[Looks like they both rushed here from the border]
Auren hugged back and a few seconds was enough. Raelith was beyond happy his youngest brother lived and survived his Awakening bringing honor to their Fenrir name.
Vorren also hugged Auren, his red and blue eyes mirrored Raelith's, proud and happy. The two brother's sat by Auren's bed as they begun to catch up,
"Auren you should have seen Vorren! When the Unsung were about to advance he appeared from the skies and burned them all to ashes!"
Raelith explained with vigor, demonstrating with his hands how Vorren flew.
" You think I was awesome? Picture a white Fenrir bathed in the blood of your enemies chasing you down relentlessly. Raelith is really scary."
Vorren added which made Auren agree. Raelith was indeed terrifying on the battlefield. He was literally a copy of their father.
Auren then asked curiously what the Unsung were because it was a new term he's heard.
"Ah! right. They are a new enemy spotted outside Caethiria's skies. Apparently other Therions in the different planets have faced the same issue." Raelith sighed as he explained,
"They are inky things, like shadows. They eat time and they have ranks."
His gaze darkened as he remembered the battlefield,
"We're not exactly sure what they are. All I know is that Aeris Remule led the war against them and they have been kept outside of our galaxies."
Vorren then decided to change the topic from the heavy one. Auren's mind was still curious but not too much. He could research about them at a later time. He had finished, 2 months ago, his middle school and has time to research.
A few hours later, both brothers bid him farewell but not after forcing him to stay on bed rest for a day. They insisted that his body needed to get used to the bloodlines but Auren hated staying still.
Thus, he decided to do some light exercises. When the house settled into the days calm, Auren sank into the quiet even as he trained his body. The silence was dangerous to him because in that quiet space, his memories resurfaced.
With each push of his muscle, Auren remembered a memory or a fragment. The thing that lingered most within his mind was the Thread tied to his soul.
He wanted to know which principle the Thread belonged to.
.....
Days bled into one another, the days of forced rest became a reprieve for Auren from his mother's coddling. He mastered his aura and how to keep it at a minimum because he had yet to learn how to nullify it.
In these days, he refreshed his memory about this world he was reborn into. Caethiria, his home world.
It is a world woven by the Threads, in a history book he read. Therions were actually a product of the primordial beasts created by the Thread of Chaos and the Thread of Growth.
At first Auren didn't understand why Threads had such significance to his world and to him especially. He dove deeper into records written by seers and scholars of old.
Threads can be defined in a simple manner, they are the principles of existence. It is not known how they came to be only that they took on a bipedal form. This form became the base of existence and all living things strive to attain this form.
[So.. humans are closests to perfection. They are born with this bipedal form and they multiply quickly.]
As he dug deeper, he found out something that caused his blood to roar with fury.
"Systems, a being made by the Thread of Creation. It's work it to ensure that the lower level universe is under control."
Auren read each word out loud. His controlled aura flared sharply for a few seconds before he controlled it again.
"I will eliminate all systems if I eliminate the Thread of Creation."
Auren sighed, head leaning on the bookshelf.
[It's impossible. Threads are principles of existence. Unless I'm willing to accept the consequence of eliminating Creation.]
Auren thought of a world where nothing was created then he would not exist and so would his family. Auren had to be content with the fact that he was reborn to a world where Thread of Creation has limited ability.
"That's why Therions are called myths by mortals. We are born directly from Chaos and Growth."
Auren closed the book and stretched a little before leaving. He was satisfied with the knowledge he's earned but he was still bothered that nothing he found hinted at what kind of thread he could be having.
Later that week, Seraphina took him by the collar and dragged him to the training grounds.
"I allowed you enough book time. Now it's time to train your Primis"
Seraphina announced happily her gauntlets already fastened on her hands.
"Mother, why are you wearing your gauntlets?"
Auren asked confused and also warry,
"Hehe, because you will not be a fragile thing. Fenrir clan training is through fights. Be prepared to break"
What followed was cruelty disguised as training.
Seraphina drove Auren to his limits. She froze the courtyard and let him adjust even when his lungs screamed. The result was that his control over his Dragon bloodline increased. She is after all a great dragon herself.
She pushed his concentration to the max and when he lost control of his Fenrir Bloodline she would freeze his feet. Waiting for Auren to control the Fenrir flames to unfreeze himself.
Auren burnt himself and froze his own bones but Seraphina only watched with the calm cruelty of a dragon mother.
"Again" she would say whenever he faltered.
The training was hard but Rai'en encouraged him, helping him understand Primis and the dragon Bloodline.
Fenvaros also helped once in a while in his busy schedule as king. He would teach Auren ways of manipulating Primis and his Fenrir Bloodline.
One evening he didn't want to go through the harsh training, Fenvaros found him and spoke to him softly,
"Auren, your not training only for strength," Fenvaros told him one morning,
"Strength we already have as Therions. It's innate for us. We are training for restraint. A Therion who cannot restrain himself is a beast."
Auren accepted the words and kept them in his heart. He truly did not want to be a lesser beast with no rationality. He wanted control, control so absolute that no system, no Thread and no fate could bend him.
A few months later, Auren made his first breakthrough. For the first time, 6 months after his awakening, his flames did not burn himself or the courtyard and his ice did not freeze his bones or extinguish his fire.
Because of the harsh training, his body cultivation has risen to beginner level. His body was stronger and his soul had settled fully within him.
Seraphina scanned his statics with her terminal:
E-class cultivator.
Basic Primis Mastery.
The words meant a lot to Auren because it was his path towards controlling his own fate. Auren did not know if it was a blessing to have a thread in his soul or a curse.
What he did know was that, his first step had been taken and the path forward was his alone.